Question 1: UNFINISHED

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In order to fully establish genre and ensure the music video was appealing and attractive to my target audience, I used many conventions typical to the indie-rock genre, covering a wide spectrum of aspects; mise-en-scene (including location, costume, objects and props, lighting and performers), narrative structure and the generic representation of British youth.

Street View

Bedroom Location

In regards to location and setting, I decided to use an ordinary-looking street location at times to reflect the ideas and aims of stereotypical videos within the genre; many artists within the indie-rock genre use common ordinary locations to enable the audience to place themselves in the position of the band members/artist. This idea was used in alliance with the generic convention of performance within productions of this genre; most videos use footage of the band, whether it be real material from a live gig or a staged performance specifically for the production. Although my production conforms to this generic convention, the video challenges the generic locations used to present these performances by placing the actors in what appears to be a stereotypically messy young boy’s room, giving the impression of ‘band practise’. I chose this location in order to challenge the range of typical locations used within the genre, as well as aiming to develop the sense of familiarity felt by the audience in such an intimate and casual setting.

All-Male Cast

In alliance with this generic use of a performance, I decided to follow the conventions of indie-rock further by using an all-male cast. As explained in my previous post ‘Casting’ the band that first created and recorded the track have since split and I was therefore unable to involve the original artists in the filming of my production, thus the generic convention of artist featuring/performance is converted and challenged. I strategically selected a masculine dominated cast in order to stay as close to the band’s original image as possible as well as ensuring the video conformed to the generic conventions of the genre. It was essential that the actors used for the production were of male gender and between the ages of 18 and 22; this was done to reflect the male dominance and general age of those featured in a large majority of indie-rock music videos, in addition to encouraging a stronger relationship between audience and performer through similarity in age and gender. This relationship is essential in creating a successful music video and relates directly to Gunther Kress’ media theory in which he states that the ‘audience feels a sense of belonging and collective identity due to easy relation and placement of themselves in the position of the performers’.

Male-Dominated

Throughout the media, British youth is represented as reckless and careless in regards to social morals and standards, commonly associated with alcohol, drinking, violence and antisocial behaviour. Television series such as Skins and films such as This Is England present British youth as a problem, suggesting that the attitudes of this social group are damaging to society through the abuse of alcohol, drugs and reckless behaviour. In a survey conducted by Uk Youth (a charity youth organisation) it was concluded that 76% of reporting of youth is negative. They also claim that ‘the evidence compiled demonstrates clearly that young people are overwhelmingly victims of negative stereotypes, either being portrayed negatively or not at all.’ Although using several aspects of the negative stereotype within my video, I have challenged the common representation of youth by presenting activities such as drinking, smoking and general stereotypical youth behaviour as amusing and harmful only to the insouciant individual. Although my production may be argued or questioned in regards to the condemning of such behaviour, the inclusion of such activities were involved so as to conform to the generic conventions of the genre as well as to ensure appeal to the target audience. My production and similar existing productions such as Reckless by popular indie band, You Me At Six, reinforces the potential audience’s hedonistic lifestyle in a more positive light. The production Reckless (as discussed in my previous case study) can be exhibited to support this idea; the video shows band members of the same age, gender and ethnicity to my target audience to be encompassing activities that involve alcohol, excitement and general boisterous, enlivening behaviour.

Close Up Shot of Guitar

Another way in which my production conforms to the generic conventions of the indie-rock genre is the inclusion of the guitar; indie-rock music is typically created by more traditional musical instruments such as guitar (usually with a heavy bass beat), drums and strong vocals. The close-up shots of the guitar were inspired by various indie bands who constantly use a variety of close up shots of the instruments involved in the composing of the music. Using this shot at the beginning of the video helps establish genre immediately. A second prop that was used to establish genre was the knitted beard and glasses combination. Humour proves to be a reoccurring theme throughout the indie genre, commonly created through the use of random and unusual objects and actions. An example of this within a real media product would be the dinosaur puppet used to create humour in the song Next Girl by successful American rock duo, The Black Keys. I decided to include the knitted beard and hat mask in order to add an element of comedy and reflect the genre, as well as to reinforce the idea of a carefree, joyful track/image.